“How do you know about that?”
“Let’s just say I have my ways,” I said. “Am I right?”
This was the most uncomfortable I’d ever seen him, and I had no idea why. I was tempted to take back the question, but his cagey response had piqued my curiosity. Glancing back out the window, I spotted the dark form of a bat darting through the air in the distance. Most of the birds had vanished for now, finding places to sleep safely for the night.
“Because of my mage magic and inherent ghostly abilities, they thought I was a risk. I thought I was a risk too. I’ve figured myself out, now, but I was locked up a long time ago and they’re not keen to let me go.”
“Were you always at Hadley House?”
I assumed a ‘long time ago’ for a thousand year old ghost would be at least a few hundred years. This house can’t have been that old, even with its falling apart state. “Not always,” he said, not elaborating.
We lapsed into silence. I didn’t want to ask him any further questions, in case I happened upon a touchy subject once again. With the sunset gone, I focused on the shape of the mountains… and something twitched in the back of my mind.
Those mountains.
This was the familiarity I’d been searching for, and Zan had led me right to it. The coincidence was suspicious in its own right, but I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I couldn’t place where I’d seen the mountains before until a bat zipped through my view once again.
A painting in my father’s office had this exact horizon, a night scene with a wash of stars and a couple of frolicking bats in one corner. Following my suspicions, I breathed on the window. My breath revealed remnants of finger writing on the glass pane, and I turned around to beam at Zan. My smile faltered for a second when a sharp sting assaulted my calf, but I fell to the floor with it firmly returned to place.
Chapter 17
Iwokeupawoman on a mission. Greeting Zan with a quick grin and a shooing hand, I tore through my suitcase and threw on clothes. They didn’t match, but I didn’t care. I had a clue to read, decode, and use to escape this prison. Pulling the door open to Kirin’s wide, green body, I slipped under his arm and skipped into the kitchen.
My need to eat something other than oatmeal for breakfast outweighed my rush to get going. I gathered a couple of pots and pans and scoured the cupboards. I had my options memorized. Dried meats. Pasta. Plain tomato sauce. Rice, and so on. In one cupboard I’d discovered some perishable foods, freshness maintained with runes on the tubs. There were eggs and tomatoes and onions and plain cheddar cheese.
While I couldn’t say the meal was my favourite, I could make a bland omelette with what we had.
Of course, I’d made it ten times before, but whatever.
The pan heated over the stove with a splash of oil, and the men filtered into the open concept kitchen and living area to watch me work. Waylon was the first to approach me, hopping up on the counter and sitting his ass down in my workspace. I lifted an eyebrow at him, but he scoffed. “Who the hell are you, and why are you making yourself at home in our kitchen?” he asked.
“My name is Hadley, and I’m hungry. If you get off the counter, I can make you some of this extremely bland, spice free meal I’m about to prepare.”
He didn’t move.
I sliced the onion so I could throw it into the omelette, feeling the weight of their stares. When I turned around to dump some unusable pieces in the garbage, I chuckled. Abraxas had given up on caring about me, practically asleep while leaning against a walls. He was always drowsy first thing in the rewind, though even without my ear-piercing screams he often woke up to greet me. Kirin was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen, gaze scanning me hungrily. I was surprised the bulge in his pants wasn’t indicative of full hardness yet. He loved watching me work.
Bennett was perched on a chair at the dinner table, only half paying attention to me. He was otherwise focused on Waylon, giving the pixie a warning glare as if he was about to do something despicable. It made me spin around to find he was about to dump my freshly cut onion onto the floor. “You’re a brat,” I said, slapping his hand away from my cutting board. “If Bennett doesn’t spank your ass later, I should do it for him.”
Waylon went pink, all bravado gone in a second. He jumped down off the counter and wandered over to Bennett, seating himself across the table from him. Zan was there too, not staying as far across the room as he typically did. Might have had something to do with my grin this morning, and the way I’d barely seemed scared of him at all. When he caught me looking at him, his cheeks went bright, and I laughed.
“Are you all going to beg me for some of this when I’m done? If so, I’m going to need help. I have things to do today and I can’t spend all day cutting tomatoes and cracking eggs.”
Kirin jumped into action, standing beside me and cracking his knuckles. “I can do the eggs.”
“You’ll get shells in them,” Bennett said smoothly, coming up on my other side. His body emanated heat, tempting me to lean into him and sigh. We hadn’t spent much time this close to each other. “The eggs need a gentle touch. I’ll do them.”
The orc pouted, but I enlisted him to grate the cheese we would need. As the ingredients came together, my body pressed between two giants in the small kitchen, I tried to get excited about a proper meal. With no spices, I wouldn’t let my hopes up too high, though.
“How do you guys eat the same damn thing every day?” I asked. “Don’t you get bored?”
“How do you know we eat the same thing every day?” Bennett asked, gently cracking an egg into the large bowl.
“You don’t have many options, and we’re locked in here. Try to tell me I’m wrong.”
He chuckled. “Point taken. We have enough variety that it isn’t too boring or unhealthy. There are ten meals we can make with what we have here.”
“Ten meals that you’ve been eating for multiple years doesn’t sound all that fun.”
